Desirable Body

By Hubert Haddad

A medical mystery/fantasy/love story that delves deeply into the nature of consciousness while raising many of the ethical and existential issues facing scientists today

A contemporary Frankenstein that defies expectations, this is a thrilling novel, couched in luminous, captivating prose about a journalist, C dric Allyn-Weberson, who suffers a horrific accident, paralyzing him from the neck down. An ideal candidate for a body transplant, C dric survives the surgery but has both physical and existential trouble with his recovery and adaptation: encountering his lover with a new body, discovering the life history of his donor, and attempting to understand the mind-body relationship as he lives it.

Haddad explores the confusion and insignificance of a single consciousness before experience and identity: What is a head without a body? What or who is a lover with another's body? The gruesome transplant (detailed in a manner that highlights the author's own diligent research and comprehension) parallels other ways humanity mutates nature globally; the novel is a provocative and timely allegory--a work of dystopian fantasy.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0300224362
• ISBN13: 9780300224368
• Release Date: August 2018
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.1" x 7.7"